Superman
by The Noble French Fry
Summary: Clark, little bit tipsy Lois, and the OTHER Superman. Sort of. Mostly just some flirty Clois fun.


**Title:** Superman

**Fandom:** Smallville

**Summary:** Clark, semi-drunk Lois, and the _other_ Superman. Sort of. Mostly just some flirty Clois fun.

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings/Characters**: Clois, brief mentions of Chloe and Jimmy

**Length:** 1,700 words

**Genre:** romance, humor

**A/N:** … because I'm a dork and I mix things like the 2008 BCS Championship and Smallville. :P Started writing this Friday morning on the buzz of the win and my brain's unshakeable focus on Tebow, though it took me a bit to finish. Plus, you know, the Clois runs away with my brain.

* * *

Not for the first time in his life, Clark wondered how in the world Chloe had convinced him to do this.

Well, he was pretty sure in this instance it was one of her, "You've got nothing better to do" arguments that had gotten him here. And it was true that he had nothing better to do tonight than to come along to this party, but that didn't mean he wanted to be here.

Just because one of the higher ups on the Daily Planet ladder had gone to the University of Oklahoma and was an avid Sooners fan who'd decided to throw a big National Championship party and invite _everyone_ at the paper didn't mean Clark had any desire for being here. He'd stopped watching football some time ago at the end of his own football career and had never quite picked back up with watching it – besides, parties weren't exactly his thing either.

And yet, here he was. A walking testament to Chloe's powers of persuasion.

He wondered how quickly he could get out of here without catching substantial grief from Chloe.

Beside him, the woman in question tapped at his arm. "Jimmy wants to get close to one of the screens," she all but shouted at him – running off of only kick-off anticipation, the place was already getting noisy – and gestured towards a pair of huge screen TVs that Clark could barely see over the people crowded around them.

He nodded and leaned down close to her ear. "Okay," he said. He gestured past the groups around the TVs to a linked room. "I'm heading that way."

After a nod, a smile, and a wink that wordlessly told him to have fun, Chloe turned and disappeared into the sea of people clumped around the TVs. With a slight sigh, Clark weaved in and out of people into the other room. This room was longer than the first, set up with tables along the length of it, and somewhere nearby he could smell food. Here, too, there were TVs – much smaller than the others – set into the walls, and the tables closest to the TVs were the most occupied.

With another sigh, Clark looked around for an unoccupied table to sit down at –

And spotted a bar about halfway down the length of the room, and, sitting at it, a familiar figure.

His feet automatically carried him in her direction. "_Lois_? What are you doing here?" he asked as he came up to stand beside her.

She looked up at him, eyes widening slightly. "I could ask you the same thing, Smallville," she responded. She glanced briefly around the room. "This doesn't exactly seem like your sort of shindig."

"Chloe," he said simply.

It was all the explanation she needed. "Ah," she said. "Where is she?"

Clark nodded back towards the other room. "Jimmy wanted to be close to one of the big screens," he explained. Coming around her side to sit on the empty stool beside her, he nudged her lightly. "So, really, why're you here, Lois?"

She nodded towards one of the screens where the game was now underway. "The General loves contact sports," she said, shrugging as if that explained it. "I guess they're not so bad." She smiled, lifting her bottle at Clark. "Besides, free booze? That has Lois Lane written all over it."

He had to return her smile. She was Lois. Her smile was infectious.

His smile lapsed, however, when she turned to the bartender and ordered a beer for him. He started to protest in favor of a simple soda, but she wouldn't let him get away with it.

"It's a party, Smallville," she said. "Drink up."

He sighed, settling for rolling his eyes. He'd learned that it was best to concede most of the little battles – he would never win them anyway. Instead, he glanced towards the nearest TV where Oklahoma was driving towards their endzone. "Who're you rooting for, then, Lois?" he asked. He was sure her answer would be amusing.

She half-shrugged. "The general was always a Gator-hater. But me?" She glanced around the room, where those with game-related attire were wearing Sooner crimson. "Don't tell anyone here, but I think I'd bet on the Gators over the Sooners tonight." Her eyes turned to the screen where stats on both quarterbacks were scrolling across. "Besides, I think Tim Tebow's kind of cute, in that almost dorky, too-innocent type of way." She winked at him out of the corner of her eye.

He blinked. Had she just…? She _had_ winked at him, he was sure of that. But had she been implying…?

Another smile splashed across her face, and regardless of what her intention had been, he smiled too.

She took a long swig of her beer as the bartender finally plopped one down in front of Clark. He let it sit there, watching Lois instead. After taking another drink of her beer – draining what was left in her bottle – she set it down and caught him looking at her.

"What?" she asked pointedly.

"How's your story coming along?" he asked instead of answering. "Any new leads since I talked to you last?" She'd been chasing information about the red and blue blur all over Metropolis for going on a week now, but he'd kept everything carefully beyond her grasp. Still, he couldn't deny that it was fascinating – not to mention amusing – to watch her on the hunt.

She made a face and reached for his beer. He let her take it without protest. "No, not yet," she answered. "He's being a pain – elusive. But you can bet if anyone will hunt him down, it's Lois Lane."

He smiled briefly. Yes, Lois was determined. But she was Lois. Even as unpredictable as she could be at times, she _was_ Lois. He knew her too well to let her get too close.

Although, when he had to step in on her behalf…

No, he didn't even want to think about that.

Lois took a sip of his beer, then set the bottle down in the counter space between them. "You know, I'm kind of getting tired of calling him the red and blue blur," she said. "He needs a name. Gotham has Batman, and Metropolis has… the red and blue blur? I don't think so. He needs a name."

Clark chuckled silently with secret amusement. He could only guess at the hundreds of wonderful names that Lois might be able to come up with. "So what're you going to name him, Lois?"

She appeared half-peeved at the question, half genuinely thoughtful. "I don't know yet," she said finally, and to him her voice sounded just the least bit slurred. "But I _will_ come up with something."

"If you say so, Lois," he replied, hiding his smile by taking the bottle from the counter and moving to take a drink himself. He had to hide his smile somehow – if she saw him smiling, almost laughing, at her, he'd be in for it.

As he set the bottle back down on the counter, however, she was the one laughing. He frowned.

"What, Lois?" He glanced back down at the bottle – and noticed the remnants of her bright lipstick around the mouth of it…

The barkeep chose that exact moment to walk up to remove Lois's empty bottle. He chuckled. "Nice shade on you man," he said to Clark, and then to Lois, he added, "Might want to think about getting a lasting lipstick next time, ma'am."

Clark flushed bright red, his cheeks heating up, as Lois took a hearty laugh at his expense. He hurriedly wiped at his mouth, once, twice, three times, clearing away the lipstick clinging there. It came away on his hand and he blushed even more. His face was probably redder than the lipstick.

Lois smirked. "Missed a spot," she said.

Clark wiped at his mouth again, this time harder.

Lois shook her head and slowly, she reached out towards him. Her thumb brushed gently at the corner of his lips.

He looked up at her, startled by the move.

Her eyes were focused on his lips. "Got it," she said softly. But her hand remained at his cheek, faltered, lingered… Her eyes moved up from his lips to his eyes, their gazes locking.

And suddenly he could think of more interesting ways for her lipstick to end up on his lips than sharing a beer bottle.

He swallowed.

And, as if the spell was broken, Lois's hand quickly dropped from his cheek back down to her side, and she turned herself to face almost directly away from him, focusing on the nearest TV. He slowly took in and released a deep breath to put his mind and slightly upbeat heart back in order, then tried to focus his own attention on the nearest TV.

The Gators had the ball now, and it seemed that the commentators were rambling on and on about Florida's quarterback. He made himself focus on the TV instead of Lois.

"Seriously, Tebow's a great kid," one of the commentators was saying. "Sometimes you have to wonder if he's even human. The boy's a superman."

"Superman," Lois echoed thoughtfully. She turned back around to face Clark, and her expression was even more contemplative. "Superman. Superman. See, the red and blue blur needs a name like _that_."

Clark swallowed again. He forced his voice to sound skeptical. "So you're going to name him after some crack a sports commentator made about a college quarterback?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter where it came from," Lois insisted. "It fits in a way. I think it has a sort of ring to it. Superman."

Something inside of Clark was stirred at the name, though. Lois was right. It did have sort of an odd draw to it. Superman. Superman. The red and blue blur, Superman. Yes, it _did_ sort of fit. Superman.

He smiled at the thought, but quickly turned it into a different sort of smile as another thought occurred to him. "There's just one problem with that, Lois," he said. "What if your red and blue blur's not a man?"

And if looks could kill (and if anyone's could, it was Lois's), the one she speared him with would have killed even a superman. "Don't go getting all technical on me, Smallville," she said. "Just because you're jealous of my skills, don't take it out on me. The blur's Superman because I say so, copy boy."

He just smiled again. "Whatever you say, Lois."

* * *

**A/N x2**: Yes, I know, how silly of me reversing the Supermans. :P And I know, how evil of me for toying with the Clois and not doing more about it. But what can I say? It's how the muse works! And, to end it, Go GATORS! And yay that Tebow's back for another season!


End file.
